Automatic ventilator and heat-regulator.



B. W.-DAV|S. AuTomATxc VENTILATOR AND HEAT REGULATOR.

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w. ,s N2. f M w mw. W, d ma m m M M 5 D@ A i 1 5 7, a d n0 M 9 1 Maa/7B. w. DAVIS. AUTOMIATIC VENTILATOR AND HEAT REGULATOR. APPLICATION FILEDMAY 4. 1909.

1,146,751. PantedJu1y13,1915.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIcE.

BENJAMIN W. DAVIS, 0F SEATTLE, `WAS' HINGTON.

AUTOMATIC VENTILATOR AND HEAT-REGULATOR.

T0 all whom 'it may concern.' 1

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN W. DAVIS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Seattle, in the county o f King and State of llfaksliington,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in AutomaticVentilators and Heat-Regulators, of which the following isaspecification.

The object of my invention is to provide improved'means of ventilationapplicable to railway cars, and as to most of its features equallyapplicable to buildings and other inclosures. i

By my invention I provide automatic means whereby the requisite amountof fresh l air will be admitted to or forced into a ear air forced out.

orl other inclosure regardless of the many varying conditions underwhich a ventilating system must be operated and thevitiated The sameAmeans may be used Vfor controlling the action of a system whereby thevitiated air is drawn from an inclosure and replaced by fresh Vairentering through apertures provided for that purpose. Means are providedwhereby the intake 'of air will be proportional to the number ofoccupants of the car or other inclosure, whereby the admission of an eX-cessive quantity of air due to external conditions such as wind orthe'motion of a car will be counteracted by mechanism acting to lessenthearea of the intake opening.

-My invention also embodies means whereby' a deficiency in the intake ofaiiI is automatically corrected, by increasing the available extent ofthe intake opening when the inward current is dueto wind or the motionof the car, and in the event such eX- ternal causes are insuiicient toproduce a suiicient current when the inlet is opened to its widestadjustment, power is applied to a fan through the action of'a governor.

It will be obvious that my arrangement for operating the 'fan either byan air current, in which event lthe fan will function as an air motor,orpropelling the shaft and fan'by means ofan electric current applied toa motor is applicable to a windmillv power plant. Vhen so applied powerwill 'bederived from the windmill when the strength v of wind vissufiicient for that purpose andat other times a slut-ably arrangedgovernor will act to place the motor in circuit or put into operationany `other form of motors, thusl insuring rotation of the shafty Otherand further. objects of my invention specifi'cation of Letters Patent.

Patented July 13,' 1915.

Application filed May 4, 1909. Serial N0- 493,800.

will be referred' to in connection with the following description, whichwhile confined to one specieembodiment of the principle of my inventionsets forth the nature thereof irrespective of the use to which it is putand the particular mechanism by which it 1s carried out.

In the drawings- Figure l is a longitudinal sectional view of one end ofa passenger coach equipped with my`invention. Fig. 11L is a detail view.Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the intake pipe showing the motorfan-governor and connected mechanism. Fig. 3 is a cross sectional viewon the line 3, 3 of Fig. i2.

Fig. 4 is .a longitudinal section through ther contact rings formingpart of the rheostat.

Vshowing supplemental means for Acontrolling the admission of airthereto. Fig. lO'fis a view of a modification in which a perforatedceiling causes the exit'of'air to be distributed throughout the upperpart of the car.

The intake vof air when the invention is applied to a car may be througha single intake pipe, although a larger number may be employed ifdesired. At the upper end and exterior to the car each intake ispreferably provided with a rotatable section l1 in which there is aright-angular turn for the purpose of bringing the extreme end of theinlet into a horizontal plane for the purpose of receiving the inrush ofair due to either the move.- ment of the car or of the wind. The section11 is preferably mounted on ball bearings 99, and is provided with avane 12 for` the purpose of keeping the inlet opening totending acrossthe :pipe 10. Mounted on ther shaft 13 are a series of blades 16 pivotedat their outer ends in a ring 17 and at their inner ends in a hu-b 18securedto the shaft. When suicient air enters through the pipe 10 due tothe wind or motion of the car the blades 16 rotate idly carrying theshaft 13 withthem. For the purpose of preventing too strong a current ofair through the pipe 10, I provide means for turning the blades 16 upontheir axes, thus partially closing the pipe 10 when the air currentbecomes too great. The said blades thus serve as an adjustable valve inthe air passage.

A centrifugal governor, designated generally by the numeral 19,comprises a ring 20 secured to the shaft 13, flexible arms 2l secured attheir lower ends to said ring 2O and at their upper ends to a ring 22,which is slidable longitudinally upon the shaft 13. Mounted upon theexible arms 21 intermediate their ends are weights 23. This mechanismconstitutes a centrifugal governor, the weights 23 moving outwardly whenthe rate of rotation of the shaft 13 becomes sufficiently great, thusdrawing the upper ring 22 downward. Extending upwardly from the ring 22are operating rods 24 provided with outwardly directed forks 25 whichlie in operativerelation to the crank arms 26 upon the inner 'ends ofthe pivots 27 of the fan blades.

In operation when the rate ofrotation of the fan 16 reaches apredetermined point, fixed in accordance with the strength of currentdesired through the pipe 10, the downwardlmovement of the ring 22 causesthe forks 25 to bear against the cranks 26, thus turning the blades 16upon their axes in such a direction as to progressively close thepassage through the pipe 10. When the fan runs idly by the natural draftdue to wind or motion of the car there is a. slight load due to frictionof the bearings and brushes on the rings. Moreover, when the bladesv arepartly or nearly closed their power is decreased. These facts tend toretard the speed and prevent racingwhen the governor acts in closing thevanes. The governor 19 also operates in a manner hereafter to beexplained to regulate the current passing through lthe motor 28, thearmature of which, not shown, 'is mounted upon the shaft 13.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the rod'30 extends from its pivotalconnection 31 with lever 32 to some part of the car structure notaffected by the movement of the car body upon the truck springs, thepurpose of this part of the mechanism being to regulate the intake of.air in accordance with the weight in the car, thus securing an amount offresh air proportional to the number of passen-- gers. The lever 32 ispivoted at 31 to the side wall of thel intake pipe 10V or to some.

other convenient part of the car structure,

' 30. nected either to the journal-box 53 or to and at its forked end 5pivotally engages a sleeve 34 through trunnions 35. The sleeve 34 isslidably mounted upon the shaft 13 and carries a series of electricalcontact rings 36. These contact rings are connected by l separate wires37 with a rheostat 38 located in any convenient place, and therheostatis in circuit with a generator 39v or other source ofelectricity and with the motor 28 through the wires 40 and 41. Wire 41leads to the fixed brush 42V whichbears on the slip ring, 34 mounted on,but insulated' from shaft 13." Wire 41 is connected to a slip'ring 34and to a contact brush 42 which is secured to but '.k Y

80 and rotating engagement with the sleeve 34. The ring 43 1s supportedupon the upper ends of the operating rods 24 of the gover` lnsulatedfrom a ring 43 which has a sliding nor 19. It will be apparent that theoutward movement of the governor weights 23 'nsH will draw thecontactbrush 42 downwardly over the contact rings 36, the mechanism bei* ing soarranged that the brush 42 maybe drawn down away fromthe contact ringsto a ring 48 of insulating material, thus cutting the motor out ofcircuit.

The relation of the brush 42 to th\e rheof` stat contact rings 36 is notonly regulated by the action of the governor 19, but also by themovement of the sleeve 34, which carries the contact rings. The sleeve34 is actuated through its connection with the lever 32 and rod 3 0. Therod 30 at its lower end lies inV proxlmityl with an extension 30 and is.`100 adapted to be locked in engagement therewith by means of a tooth 50which may pass through an aperture 5l in the rod 30 andv into engagementwith a notch 52 in the rod The rod 30 at its lower end is con- 32 willbe thrust upwardly and at the inner.l

end will move downward carrying with it the sleeve 34' and thus tendingto move the contact rings 36 successively beneath the' brush 42. Thecontact rings 36 are so arranged thatv when the brush 42 is in contactAwith thelower ring the whole of the resistlos anceof the rheostat 38will be in circuit",` with the motor, the resistance being progressivelycut out as the brush 42 comes in contact with the upper rings. Fromfthis it willV be apparent that the greater the number of passengers inthe car the lower thc sleeve `344 will bemoved, thus starting the motor`and cutting out resistance in proportion to the weight-in the car. Incase, owing to the stiffness of the car springs and the weight'ofthe carbody as compared with the weight of the passengers,1.there is notsulicient movement ofk the car body upon its springs in all cases toaccomplish the de sired result 'and when the device is used inabuildingor other inclosure, the rod 30 may be set by hand through the lever 52,which is connected at one end to the rod 30 and pivoted intermediate itsends. The lever 52 may actin conjunction with the scale 53, which maybear marks indicating the proper position of the lever for differentnumbers of passengers.

that the fans 16 may operate as an idler when there is 'a natural draftthrough the inlet pipe 10;` that when the draft through the pipe 10becomes too great the centrifugal governor will operate to turn thepivoted vanes upon their axes, thus causing them to act as a damper topartially close the pipe. Furthermore, the sleeve 34 carrying thecontact rings having been properly set either through the weight inthecar or by means of the hand lever 52, if the current through .the pipe10 due to the action of the motor 28, together with the natural draftbecomes too great the centrifugal governor will draw the brush 42 downupon the insulating ring 48, thus cutting the motor out of circuit. Upona decrease in the current through the intake pipe 10, on the contrary,the spring arms 21 'of the governor, being unopposed by suicientcentrifugalv force will raise the brush 42 progressively across thecontact rings 46, thus giving the motor 28 suflicient current to bringthe apparatus again into equilibrium with mutual respect to speed andventilation requirements.

A further control of the amount of air admitted through the intake -10may be secured through the mechanism illustrated in Fig. 9, in which55is a vane pivoted at 56 to an arm 57 extending'upwardly from :theintake pipe. 58 is a damper or Valve pivoted at 59 in the intake pipeand provided with-an arm 60-pivoted -at its outer end to a link 61,which extends upwardly toa pivotal'connection 62 with'the Vane 55. Thearm 60 as shown in Fig. 9 may be'arranged as a crank attached to theouter' end ofthe .extended axis 59 ofthe kdamper 58 so as to avoidperforating the `pipe 10'for the link 61. The

pivot 56 is arranged parallel with the plane ofy the inlet openingin thepipe 10 thereby7 subjecting'the vane 5-5 to thesame pressure duetothewindor motiony of the car. The effect of air pressure uponv the vane55 is to liftthe same toward the dotted line position, shown in Fig.A 9,thereby moving the' dampern58toward the dotted line position thereof.The/movement of the vane 55 may be regulated by means of a spring orotherwise-fin order to 'effect the vproper' movement 'of thefdamper 58when the air current fan unweighted actuating finger 89.

through the intake 10 becomes excessive. In some cases it may be founddesirable to connect the vane 5,5 with the contact brush 42, therebyregulating the action of the motor in accordance with the wind pressureupon the vane 55 instead of in accordance with the rotation of thelvanes 16.

In Figs. 5 and 6 I have illustrated mechanism whereby the rod 30 .may berendered inactive while the car is in motion, my object being to adjustthe position of the sleeve 34 when the car is at rest, and at the'jsametime to render said sleeve free from vibra- From-theforegoing it will beapparent engages a slot 73 in an arm 74, which is pivoted at 75 in thecasing 72. At its lower end beyond the pivot 75 the arm 74 is formedwith a cylindrical lcavity 76. A plunger 77 is fitted in the cavity 76and is outwardly pressed'by a spring 78 bearing at one end.

against the lower end of the lever 74 andv at the opposite end againstthe collar 79 upon the plunger-7 7. The plunger 77 at its lower end is'pivoted at 78 to a cam rocker 80, which in turn is pivoted at 8l to astud 82, which may be supported by an arm 83 extending downwardly andinwardly from the casing 72. Keyed to the car axle 84 is a collar 85 toan ear 8.6 of which is pivoted intermediate its ends a lever 88-89carrying at one end a weight 88 and at the other rnd At its lower endcam rocker 80 is provided withtwolateral off-set bearing surfaces 90 and91, the sur`4 face 90 being in registry with the finger 89l and thesurface 91 in registry with the weight 88. A spring 92 secured at-oneend tothe stud 87 on the collar y85 and `at` the opposite end to theweight 88 normally tends to draw the vweight 88 toward and to thrust thefinger 89 outwardly from the axle 84. 15'

Thespring 92 is of such strength that when the car is moving at apredetermined rate,

" say'three or four miles anhour, centrifugal force will throw theWeight 88 outwardly, thus causing it to strike the bearing surface 91 ofthe cam rocker 8O and throw it over into the solid line `position inFig. 5. The

tween the pivots 75 and 81. kThe effect of the pressure of the weight 88upon-the cam rocker 80'in moving it to the solid line position showninFig. 5 is to rotate the leverv 75 upon its pivot 74 in counter-clockwisedithe ratchet 96 disengages the tooth 50 from the rod and vice versa. Bythis means when the car is in motion the sleeve 34 is locked againstmovement. When the car slows down below the predetermined speed thefinger 89 moves outwardly under the force of the spring 92 and contactswith the bearing surface 90, thus throwing the cam rocker to a positionopposite to thatl shown in-Fig. 5, thus withdrawing the pawl 95 v fromthe ratchet 96 and moving the tooth 50 into engagement with the notch 52of the rod 30', thereby locking the sections 30 and 30 together.Suiicient registration of the notches 51 and'52 is assured bythe loadremaining constant. while the car is n motion and the foreside of the.notch 52 being funnel shaped to most readily receive they tooth 50.This has the eiiect of again placing the mechanism in such adjustmentthat the position ofthe sleeve 34 will be adjusted in accordancey withthe weight in the car. As it is during stops that the weightk in the carchanges the mechanism above described is effective for adjusting thesleeve 34 when the `car is stationary, but causes the sleeve 34 to belocked against movement due to the jarring of the car body wheny inmotion at a rate above a predetermined limit'of say three or four milesan hour.

In Fig. 10 I have shown a ceiling beneath the roof of the car-with anvintervening air space. The ceiling is perforated and the perforationsin proximity to ther outlets 101 .are smaller than the perforations 102more remote from the outlets. The perforations may also be more,vnumerous at the parts'of the vceiling remote from the outlets thanadjacent thereto. This variation in the size and the distributing of theperforations is for the urpose of causingan evenv distribution of a1rthroughout the car rather than strong currents directed to the outlets.

The outlets 101 are controlled by means of valves or dampers 103, and asshown in Fig. 1, the valves are pivotally mounted and provided withcrank arms 104. Alongitudinal connecting rod 105 is pivoted to thecranks 104 and at its end is pivoted toy one arm of aV bell cranklever'106, the other arm of which is pivoted to the rodA 30. lThe valves103are by this connection. caused to open andclose in accordance withthe weight in the car, thus securing outlet openings of graduated sizeto correspond with the gradu ated inlet. It is ofcourse obvious that thecirculation of air .throughthe car may be with the alr inlet pipe 10 andserve to dis# tribute fresh air throughout the interior of the caradjacent the upper and lower berthsY respectively, when the apparatus isapplied to a sleepmg car, and when the invention is applled to otherthan sleeping cars such branch conduits serve to distribute freshair.

throughout the interior of the car at different levels.

r1`he air admittedthrough the pipe 10` isA received in a duct 107 at thelower part of the car, lthis duct being connected by openf ings 108 witha heating duct 109. The heating duct 109 is traversed by steam pipes110. The air from the duct 109 Fig. 8,- be delivered Ato the interior ofthe car through outlet pipes 111 located beneath the car seats and havetheir open ends directed toward the aisle. trolling the admission ofsteam to thek is provided with an arm 133 to whlch is pivoted aconnecting rod 114 having may be varied .according to the atmospheric'The valve112 con- ,l ipes .Y

- l85 may, as shown 1n Y its opposite end pivoted to one arm 115 of abell crank lever. The other arm lof the bell. 9x5"k temperature, I.preferably vertically adjust.- ably support the fulcrum of the bellcrank. i lever 115, as shown in Fig. 1*. A vertical guide 115 isprovided in which the fulcrum of the bell crank lever may be verticallyad justed by any suitable means, such `for inl stance as a link 116connected to the fulj' Y crum of the bell crank lever at one end and 'atits other end to a lever 116, said latter lever being fulcrumedintermediate of 'itsends and coperating with a graduated scale 117. Bymanually moving the lever 116 the fulcrum of the bell crank lever 115may be vertically adjusted, and consequently the throw of the valve 112varied to admit more f for less steam to the heating coil 110. By Ythis. means the temperature of the car is not only automatically variedaccording to its, l

loaded condition, but ythe limit of such variation may be fixed toaccord with the atmospheric `conditions andthe consequent i need of moreor less artificial heat in the car.

'Of course, it is obv-lous that other sources of heat than steam may beutilized in con nection wlth my 'invention and may simi-v larly becontrolled'through the movement of the rod 30. It will also be obviousthat whlle I have shown my invention as a plied to a passenger car thatit is capable ofpracico tical application of freight cars `which carryrequires that a circulation of air should occur through the car.

Vhile I have herein shown and partielllarly described some embodimentsof my invention, I do not Wish to limit myself to the preciseconstructions as herein shown and particularly described, as manymodifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departingfrom the spirit of myv said invention.

I claim:

1. In combination, a supporting structure, a chamber supported thereonand movable relative thereto, said chamber being provided with aventilating passage, means controlling the flow of air through saidpassage, said means being operable by the movement of said chamberrelative to said supporting structure 'due to change of Weight in saidchamberv to vary the flow of air through said passage.

2. In combination, a supporting structure, a chamber supported thereonand movable relative thereto, said chamber being provided ivith aVentilating passage, a valve lnember controlling the flow of air throughsaid passage, and operable bv movement of said chamber relative to saidstructure due to change in Weight in said chamber to vary the flow ofair through said passage.

3. In combination, a supporting structure, a chamber supported thereonand having an air inlet pipe, said chamber being movable relative tosaid supporting structure, a fan in said inlet pipe, a motor adapted todrive said fan, and means to vary the action of said motor, said meansbeing operable by movement of said chamber relative to said supportingstructure due to change in Weight in said chamber.

l. In combination, a supporting structure, achamber supported thereon,said chamber being provided with an inlet pipe, a fan, a governor, arotatable shaft, said fan and governor being attached'to said shaft, amotor arranged to drive said shaft and means for regulating the actionof said motor in accordance with the Weight in said chamber and the rateof rotation of said governor.

In combination, a supporting structure, a chamber supported thereon. anair inlet pipe communicating with said chamber, a fan mounted therein, amotor arranged to drive said fan, an air duct leading into said chamberfrom said inlet pipe, said chamber being provided with apertures leadingoutwardly from the interior thereof, valves in said apertures, meansoperated by the iveight carried in the chamber for regulating the actionof said motor, said means being arranged to operate said valves.

6. In combination, a supporting structure, a chamber supported thereon,an air inlet pipe communicating therewith, a fan therein, a motor, saidfan being arranged for rotation by a current of air through saidpipe, orby said motor,the blades of -said fan being pivotally mounted, and agovernor actuated by said fan, and operable to move said vanes abouttheir pivotal mounting.

7. In a car, an air inlet pipe, a shaft mounted in said pipe, a fanmounted on said shaft, a motor operatively related to said shaft, acentrifugal governor driven by said shaft, a rheostat adapted to controlthe speed of said motor, a series of contact plates slidably mounted onsaid shaft, a contact brush .slidably mounted relative to said shaft andconnected to said governor, said brush and contact plates being mutuallyslidable and coacting and adapted to vary the motor rheostatconnections, a lever pivoted to the car body and connected at one end ofsaid contact plate, and a member connected at one end to said lever andat the other end to a part of the car bevond the springs.

8. In a car, an air inlet pipe, a fan therein, a motor operativelyrelated to said fan, a rheostat in circuit With said motor, an actuatingconnection extending from said rheostat, all of said parts being mountedon the car body, and a mechanical actuating connection adapted to changethe rheostat connections, said mechanical actuating connection beingconnected to a part of the car beyond the truck springs.

9. In a car, an air inlet pipe, a fan therein, a motor operativelyrelated to said fan, a rheostat in circuit with said motor, an actuatingconnection extending from said rheostat, all of said parts being mountedon the car body and one end of said actuating connection being connectedto a part of the car beyond the truck springs, and means dependent uponthe rotation of one of the car wheels for interrupting said actuatingconnection.

10. In a car, an air inlet pipe, a fan therein, a motor operativelyrelated to said fan, a rheostat in circuit Withl said motor, anactuating connection extending from the contact element of saidrheostat, all of said parts being mounted on the car body and one end ofsaid actuating connection being connected to a part of the car beyondthe truck springs, and means for preventing vibrations of the car bodyoperating said actuating connection to affect the rheostat.

11. In combination, a supporting structure, a chamber supported thereon,an air inlet pipe communicating with said chamber, a rotatable shaftlocated in said pipe, air propelled blades operatively connected to saidshaft, a motor arranged to rotate said shaft and automatic means forvarying the power of the motor inversely as the power applied to saidshaft by said blades driving effect and also to adjust said rheovaries.y l stat, and means to adjust said rheostat, said 12. In a Ventilatingsystem, an inlet pipe, lastnamed means being operable by change a fanadapted to drive air through said pipe, of Weight in said car`.` 5 saidfan, being capable of adjustment to vary In testimony whereof, I havesubscribed 15 the amount of air driven thereby, a governor my name.

member, a motor operatively connected with BENJAMIN W. DAVIS. said fanand said governor, a rheostat ar- Witnesses: ranged to controlsaid'motor, said governor GEO. L. WILKINSON,

1t) being arranged to adjust said fan as to its ANNIE C. C OURT'ENAY.

